Crail Rowing Club

Welcome to Crail Rowing Club based in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland.

The club was formed in December 2010 and is a member of The Scottish Coastal Rowing Association, (SCRA). Following a successful fund-raising campaign, construction of the St Ayles Skiff commenced and “Partan” was subsequently launched from Crail harbour beach on 26 May 2012. The club has around 20 rowing members and regularly attends SCRA regattas and rowing events.

20 club members and families travelled from Crail to Stranraer with skiff “Partan” in tow to compete in the third St Ayles Skiff World Championships which were held 9-13 July. We joined over 500 crews, mainly from Scotland, but also rowers from Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, Tasmania and the United States, to take part in six days of exciting races on Loch Ryan.

​Stranraer pulled out all the stops to make us feel welcome, providing excellent facilities and entertainment throughout the week. The breezy opening day featured a mass row-in to the beach and the brightly coloured skiffs carrying flags in the sunshine was a truly memorable sight. This was followed by a procession by competitors along the waterfront led by the Stranraer Pipe Band, and a welcome from the Convenor of the Scottish Coastal Rowing Association, Robbie Wightman.

The second day saw the arrival of HRH Princess Anne, who set off one of the races, presented some medals and did a walk-around, chatting with locals and rowers. Her Royal Highness seemed impressed to hear that Crail had continued to take part in these Championships since we last saw her at the first in Ullapool in 2013!

Conditions for racing weren't exactly easy - calm waters on the first day didn’t last, quickly deteriorating as the week progressed with a strong north westerly wind funnelling down the loch and whipping up the waves. Launching from the beach was challenging enough, with helpers getting completely soaked in the strong surf and crews finding it a hard slog to the turning buoys. However, they were rewarded with some great surfing on the way back to the finishing line.

So, how did we do? Qualifying for the finals, the Men's 60+ team started the week winning bronze. A couple of days later later our Mixed 50+ team picked up another another bronze medal, coming joint third with Dundrum from Northern Ireland. In total Crail made it through to six finals, narrowly missing another medal in the Ladies 50+ race, and earning well deserved club points. Having entered 11 out of the 22 categories, we were delighted with our final placing of 13 out of 55 clubs. The World Champions were Dundrum, who retained their title from 2016.